Pitso now has bigger fish to fry
Downs coach has eye on Africa title
IT IS said fans don’t buy stadiums tickets to watch the coach on the touchline, but history-making Mamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane comes damn close to making them.
He is a spectacle, his words are prophetic and his presence magnetic. At the PSL awards on Sunday night Mosimane drew as much applause as players when he was named PSL coach of the season.
He was the toast of the evening and was marginally outshone by Bidvest Wits captain and player of the year Sibusiso Vilakazi.
Everyone wanted a piece of him – a chat, a handshake, a hug, a “selfie”– while he was happy to share the credit with his players, staff, management and boss Patrice Motsepe.
Mosimane brought the Premiership title to Sundowns for the first time in seven years – in the process becoming the first black local coach to win the championship in the PSL era.
Mosimane wasted no time in promising more treasures for Sundowns.
The former Bafana Bafana coach said he was aiming for continental glory and beyond, hinting that he’s in hot pursuit of the Club World Cup.
It may sound absurd, Mosimane admitted, but he said he needed five new top quality additions to a Brazilian’s squad that is already dripping of quality and depth. It was like saying he needed more sugar for the honey.
“We want to retain the league title, which is not an easy feat, and the only way to do that is to continue what you’ve done right and improving on our weaknesses,” said Mosimane.
“Our strength has been to score goals and to work as a team.
“We need to improve the personnel of the team. We need to bring some champions league material into our squad.
“We had the material to win the league at home but I still believe we need four to five players. I know it sounds crazy.
“We need players that can carry us through the champions league and help us to do what Orlando Pirates have done. We’ve learnt from Pirates’ and Kaizer Chiefs’ African campaigns over the last year.
“I can’t reveal the particular players I have in mind because if I name them other clubs will compete for them and I might not have the players.
Looking back, Mosimane has been South Africa’s coaching golden boy and heir to the throne of best coach in the country.
He was chosen to succeed Carlos Alberto Parreira after the 2010 World Cup held here after spending four years next to the Brazilian on the bench assisting.
Things didn’t go as planned when he took over the national team job but it wasn’t all for nothing as the harsh lessons learnt on that job contributed to success in this one.
And his feat of taking Sundowns from relegation-threatened club to champions saw him finally fulfil his coaching potential.
“I learnt a lot,” he said of the Bafana experience.
“I was on the bench in Bafana matches against Ghana, Egypt, Spain, Brazil, Uruguay, France, Nigeria and Senegal – all the top football nations in the world.
“You can’t come out of a programme like that without learning anything. That experience helped the team.”